Samson the black labrador's ability to dig up truffles around Australia has helped him make a dream come true for his owner, Jayson Mesman, who has bought Canberra's only truffle farm.
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In the nine years he's been hunting for truffles, Samson has dug up enough of the expensive delicacy to help 31-year-old Mr Mesman buy the Canberra landmark, established by Sherry McArdle-English.
The farm on Majura Road was previously known as French Black Truffles of Canberra but Mr Mesman has since rebranded it The Truffle Farm Canberra - with a new logo featuring Samson on the top. Top dog indeed.
Mr Mesman said Samson had earned a percentage of the truffles he found on other farms around Australia as he worked as a contracted hunter, which had helped bankroll the purchase of the Canberra property.
The Australian Truffle Growers Association says truffles can sell for anything from $1000 to $2500 a kilo, making Samson worth his weight in (black) gold.
"He is an exceptional dog," Mr Mesman said.
"I was offered 120,000 Euros [$A172,000] for him once but I said no straight away. It wasn't until later that I sat down and realised how much money that was.
"But he'll never be for sale."
The truffle farm, just 10km from the Parliamentary Triangle, was started by Mrs McArdle-English, initially as a hobby to share with her husband Gavan McArdle, who had sold his civil engineering firm after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
She started to transform the former sheep property into a truffle farm in 2004, planting 2500 inoculated oak and hazelnut trees, under which the truffles grow. The first truffle was produced there in 2007.
Mr Mesman, a Canberra boy who went to Marist College, was employed by Mrs McArdle-English as a dog handler from 2009, taking on more of the farm's responsibilities, including truffle hunts, last winter when Mr McArdle's health declined. He sadly died in June this year.
It was the end of an era for Mrs McArdle-English who will probably always be given the tag of "Canberra's truffle lady", even with the sale of the farm.
"I'm very proud to have established the industry in Canberra," she said.
Mr Mesman's background is in training dogs. He went to Western Australia more than a decade ago to work with Customs as a dog handler and stumbled into truffle hunting. All thanks to Samson.
A colleague was moving interstate and couldn't find a home for his dog The energetic lab was re-housed three times but always returned. Nobody wanted him; Mr Mesman did. And it's turned out to be a magic partnership.
During one of their visits to the local park in Perth, Mr Mesman saw something in Samson - "a relentless drive and focus".
While in Perth, Mr Mesman was able to try out Samson at the Wine and Truffle Company, the world's largest producing truffle farm.
"Within 10 minutes, he'd found four kilos of truffles," he said.
Now Mr Mesman has his own truffle farm. And a lot of enthusiasm for the job.
"It's a special place. It's the only truffle farm in a capital city anywhere in the world.
"It's something I'm proud of and something I feel responsible to continue."
Mrs McArdle-English said during her last winter on the farm, in 2015, it produced a record 62 kilos of truffles.
Mr Mesman said he would continue to prioritise supplying the Canberra market.
"I think there's a lot of collaboration rather than competition going on in Canberra which is a good thing," he sad.
And with his partner Danielle, and their two-year-old son Jax, Mr Mesman really is living the dream. Eleven-year-old Samson now has a team of truffle dogs around him.
Together, he and Jayson can enjoy the fruits - or fungi- of their labour.
